GameStop is shutting down hundreds of stores just days after the new year begins, as CEO Ryan Cohen prepares to claim $35 billion in performance-based stock options.
Reports of the gaming and pop-culture retailer planning store closures began surfacing shortly after 2026 started. Some customers spotted and shared signs at locations announcing imminent closures, offering a limited-time 20% trade-in bonus as a gesture of appreciation.
Been going to this GameStop for over 12 years. Sad to see it go. All the best to the guys Jose, Nick and more. Check them out before they close on the 8th. This is the 18th av location in Bensonhurst Brooklyn. pic.twitter.com/hV8NxgESUO
— Brooklyn Games & Arcade (@ArcadeBrooklyn) January 3, 2026
“This store is closed effective 1/8/26,” another sign, posted to Reddit on January 2, 2026, stated. “Thank you for being a loyal GameStop customer.”
Signs directed customers with game or memorabilia reservations to visit other locations to collect their orders, but the suddenness and scale of the closures left buyers with more uncertainty than clarity. With dozens of closure reports spreading online, a blog that tracks GameStop activity—using employee reports and the company’s store locator—claims to have documented 390 store closures (via Polygon). An additional 10 stores are still being verified, which, if confirmed, would bring the total to 400 closed GameStop locations within just over a week of the new year.
This marks another blow to GameStop’s physical footprint in the gaming industry. A December 2025 filing from the company revealed it had shut down 590 U.S. locations during fiscal 2024. Now, the once-dominant brand known for “power to the players” appears to be following through on its stated strategy, with the same filing noting it expected to “close a significant number of additional stores in fiscal 2025.” For the past decade, GameStop has closed more U.S. stores each year than it has opened, with closures often numbering in the hundreds.
Meanwhile, GameStop announced earlier this week that Cohen, who took over as CEO in September 2023, is eligible for an extraordinary $35 billion in performance-based stock options. To trigger the payout, the company’s board requires GameStop to reach a $100 billion market capitalization and generate $10 billion in cumulative EBITDA before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization. GameStop’s current market cap stands at approximately $9.5 billion.
“The award is designed to incentivize Mr. Cohen to achieve extraordinary growth,” the announcement stated.
In recent years, GameStop has pursued increasingly unconventional strategies to attract attention, doubling down on collectibles and internet memes. In August 2023, the company pull out of crypto, closing its brief NFT marketplace just months later. More recently—and to the dismay of its employees—it launched its first-ever Trade Anything Day, where customers brought in literally anything for trade-in credit at local stores. Earlier this week, The New Zealand Herald reported that GameStop’s EB Games division has proposed to close its remaining stores in New Zealand.
